Senate Health Care Bill; FSSA Benefits - October 17, 2009
October 16, 2009
Dear Friend,
Thank you for reading another edition of my e-newsletter, the Carson Courier. For additional information on these and other topics, please visit my website at https://www.carson.house.gov.
In this week's Carson Courier:
Advocating for an Amended Senate Health Care Plan
Promoting an Improved Benefits Process for Hoosiers
ADVOCATING FOR AN AMENDED SENATE HEALTH CARE PLAN
This week, I was pleased to see my Senate colleagues pass a long-awaited health-care reform proposal out of the Senate Finance Committee. This vote was an important step in the health-reform debate.
While a sign of progress, there is still more work to be done, in my opinion, when it come to the actual content of the bill. For one the bill passed out of the Senate Finance Committee does not include a public insurance option I strongly believe the most effective and efficient way to drive down costs and keep the insurance industry honest is by establishing a strong public insurance option. By not including a public option, the Senate bill offers little incentive for insurers to lower prices and create a more efficient and inclusive system.
This bill also calls for $40 billion in new taxes on the medical device industry—a growing industry that employees 350,000 workers nationwide, including several thousand in Indiana. I recently voiced my opposition to such a tax in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This new tax would likely stifle innovation that leads to the creation of new life saving treatments, and it would cost hundreds of Hoosier jobs in the growing medical device industry.
While the Finance Committee's bill is far from complete, I believe it provides a starting point for negotiations in the Senate. As this process continues, I remain confident that comprehensive health-care reform legislation will be passed and sent to the President's desk this year.
PROMOTING AN IMPROVED BENEFITS PROCESS FOR HOOSIERS
Yesterday, I joined Congressman Baron in applauding Governor Mitch Daniels for cancelling the flawed privatization of welfare services administered by the Family and Social Services Administration.
Earlier this summer, Congressman Hill and I co-wrote a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack decrying the privately-run overhaul, which has resulted in tens-of-thousands of eligible individuals and families being denied access to critical services like food stamps, Medicaid-supported care, and food and nutrition programs for children. Under the previous presidential administration, the USDA had approved the state's plans to privatize the system that administered many social services under FSSA.
I give Governor Daniels credit for recognizing that the privatization of FSSA simply wasn't working. There was evidence that these changes were hurting some of our most vulnerable Hoosier, and. I am hopeful that the Governor's decision is a clear sign of action being taken to correct these problems and get services to those in need.
Congressman Hill and I plan on staying in touch with the USDA to help assure federal entitlement benefits are being efficiently and effectively administered to Hoosiers across the state.